When I Am Still Financially Dependent on My Parents, Should I Fast to Expiate a Broken Vow to Allah, or Should I Pay the Expiation (Kaffara)?


Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

 

Question

When I am Still financially Dependent on my Parents, Should I Fast to Expiate a Broken Vow to Allah, or Should I Pay the Expiation (Kaffara)?

 

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health.

This is an oath that you have broken and not a vow. In your case, you will, as you don’t seem to be financially unable, then you may fast for three consecutive days.

Vows

A vow is to verbally swear that if something happens, one will do some act of worship, like praying, fasting, giving charity, and the like. If that happens, it is necessary (wajib) to fulfill the vow by doing that act of worship. There is no expiation (kaffara) for a vow.

[Maydani, Al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab]

So, you will do the act of worship or give in monetary or food form upon fulfilling the vow when it takes place.

Oath

The expiation (kaffara) is as follows and done in a specific order:

It is obligatory to perform expiation (kaffara) upon breaking an oath by:
1. Providing decent clothing for ten poor people or
2. Feeding ten poor people two full meals each, or
3. Free an enslaved person (not possible in our times)

One can choose to do either of the two options above and give the appropriate money in cash instead of doing it in kind.

4. If one is financially unable to do any of the two above, then one can fast for three consecutive days.

Please read the difference between a promise, an oath, and a vow. See the links below.

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I pray this helps with your question.

Wassalam,

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.

He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.

He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.

He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His personal interest is the love of books and gardening.